Politici de atragere a ISD pentru stimularea economiei. Cazul României şi al Irlandei

The essential contribution of foreign direct investment (FDI) to the economic growth of a country is largely developed in the literature and empirically proven. Therefore, given the importance of FDI for meeting the need for capital and for the economic development of a country, attracting FDI should be subject to targeted and persistent public action. In this analysis we have chosen to highlight the impact of public policies in attracting foreign investors, as we assume that the state influence in the economy is essential through its capacity to establish the institutional and legal framework in which businesses operate. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness Romania’s based policy strategies directed towards attracting foreign investment. The research is based on the three essential elements of FDI policy: the institutional framework, the strategy for FDI attraction and the economic levers for influencing FDI. For an accurate assessment of the effectiveness of public policy strategies applied by Romania to attract investments, we conduct a comparison with Ireland, one of the most FDI intensive European countries. The research results show that Romania's weak performance in attracting foreign investments can also be caused by the low efficiency of the Romanian agencies for attracting foreign investments over the years, which does not assumed a strong position as a government representative in negotiations with foreign investors, by the lack of a strategy to attract FDI, and as a result, by a too generalized and disparate scheme of fiscal and financial facilities, not easily assimilated by foreign investors. This paper stresses the need for pro-active involvement of the state in attracting FDI as a tool to stimulate the economy.